Dear !*TITLE*! !*LASTNAME*!,
This is my last email bulletin for this year, with a report from the 14th Scandinavian Christmas Party and our Christmas luncheon meeting and information about our first event in 2007, a Club Evening and Wine Tasting on 24 January.
But as important; I would like to thank all of you for your support and good cooperation during 2006, and all the kind feedback I have received on this bulletin, THANK YOU!

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Report from the Christmas Luncheon Meeting

The traditional FCCJ Christmas Luncheon, attended at maximum capacity by 37 members and guest, was held for the seventh time at the Embassy of Finland on Thursday 14 December.
Ambassador Jorma Julin gave an overview of the Finnish EU-Presidency, which ends at the end of the year, and a recap of the recent developments in the Japan Finland relations. During the luncheon Mr. Petri Parvinen, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Helsinki School of Economics gave a biref introduction to the StratMark Project.

The social highlight of the year of the Nordic Chambers in Japan, the Scandinavian Christmas Party, was held on Friday, 8 December, at The Westin Tokyo.
410 members from the SCCJ (Sweden), DCCJ (Denmark), FCCJ (Finland) and NCCJ (Norway) and their guests enjoyed a fantastic evening together with delicious food and wine, and a lot of other drinks. FCCJ had this year 69 participants.
The party started with a Lucia parade followed by Christmas songs by a group from Sophia University and a much appreciated performance by opera singer Carina Henriksson and ending off the night to a lot of dancing with the Hitmen
For more about the party and many images, please click link at right.

Our next Club Evening & Wine Tasting event will be held at Au Vieux Paris in Shinjuku on Wednesday 24 January.
This event is organized in cooperation with Eric Dahler of Alcotrade Trust Inc. who will bring a variety of wines for tasting. If you find wines to your taste, and budget, you could make orders at favorable prices on the spot for delivery to your home or office.

Note that the fee is for dinner only, the wine tasting is provided for free, but naturally Mr. Dahler expects some business...
Therefore we hope that those who will attend would also, although no obligation, seriously consider purchasing some wine. When you register you could also mention which kinds of wines you are interested in; red/white; French/Italian/Spanish/Californian/New World/etc. and price range; i.e. less than 1,000 yen, 1-2,000 yen, over 2,000 yen.
If you would like attend, please click link at right.

Finland's finance ministry said in its economic bulletin on Tuesday it expected the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 5.9 per cent in 2006, up from its September forecast of 4.5 per cent.
"The economy is growing at a record rate similar to the one witnessed in 1997-8, except employment, growing at a rate of 1.6 per cent, is slower by half than during the boom a decade ago, whereas productivity growth is correspondingly higher," the bulletin said.
Repeating September's forecast, the ministry added it expected Finnish GDP growth to slow down to about 3 per cent next year.

Remebering Why Christmas Is Celebrated
A woman was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After
many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else
imaginable, and hearing both her children asking for everything
they saw on those many shelves, this woman finally made it out of
the store and to the elevator with her two kids.
She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season
time of the year: Overwhelming pressure to go to every party,
taste all the holiday food, get
that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list,
and the pressure
of making sure we respond to everyone who sends us a card. Not to
mention, getting the kids everything they ask for.
Finally the elevator doors opened--there was already a crowd in
the car. This woman pushed her way into the car and dragged her
two kids in with her, along with all her bags of stuff.
When the doors closed, she let out a big sigh and decided she
couldn't take it anymore, saying out loud,
"Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be arrested!"
From the back of the elevator, a quiet calm voice responded,
"Don't worry ma'am, I believe they crucified Him."

ABOUT THIS BULLETINThis bulletin is
published by the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) and
distributed to over 600 recipients among its members and related
organizations. FCCJ was established in April 1999 to promote trade and
economic exchange between Japan and Finland and has today 67 corporate
members, 16 individual and one special member.